How to Revamp Your Social Media for Black Friday

Black Friday is a major event for retailers around the world and the best way to reach out to your audience is through social media.

Creating a social media strategy can be a struggle, especially for a major event like Black Friday, but you can make a good one with a few essential tips.
We share the ways you can revamp your social media strategy for a strong and successful Black Friday campaign.

Plan Your Black Friday Early

There’s no better way to prepare for a massive event like Black Friday than planning well in advance of the actual event.
You should already have a fair idea of the kind of deals your company will be giving, and you can plan your social media around it.
If you want a successful social media campaign come Black Friday, you need to have a fairly good following—if there aren’t followers, your posts will not be seen by potential customers.
To get more followers on social media, consider an awareness campaign well before the event. Run and promote social media contests to increase follower growth, and encourage more people to follow you by adding calls to action on your website, emails, and blogs/ vlogs.

Use Strong Visuals

It is important to use strong visuals in all your content marketing. Particularly in the social media sphere, where there is so much competition, visuals are key to getting eyeballs on your posts.
According to visual content marketing statistics, 69% of marketers believe that visuals are a necessity in content marketing, including on social media.
When it comes to an event like Black Friday, where your company will be competing for attention against competitors and the industry as a whole, it is more important to use visuals. Relying on text posts isn’t going to get you as much traction.
Create short, edited videos, or GIFs to share on social media. You can also use an infographic template as a gift guide to help followers shop on the big day.
But avoid using overly-complicated visuals that could overpower your message—remember that the visuals are meant to attract attention.
Your copy still needs to be strong if you want people to engage with your brand and eventually indulge in your Black Friday sales.

Share Deals with Followers

Walk a mile in your followers’ shoes—what would you want from a brand’s social media platform when an event like Black Friday is coming up?
Would you want to know more about the brand? Or would you want to know about the sales they can enjoy on Black Friday?
In the build up to Black Friday, avoid posting about topics that will not interest your followers. Talk about the deals you will be offering instead, and the best way to shop on Black Friday. This strategy should be employed across all aspects of your social media—posts, Stories, videos, and for Instagram and Facebook ads.

Be Social Media-Exclusive

Alongside your regular deals for Black Friday, offer users deals that can only be accessed through social media.
Create coupon codes that you can share on select social media channels. This will entice users to engage with you on those channels, and to share it with their friends.
It is probably best to keep these exclusive offers limited—one day only, or for a few hours—as that will encourage more shares and traffic.
You can use pixels to track the popularity of those posts and whether they are driving traffic to your product pages.
Remember to make it clear that your social media is safe to use so that users will be more comfortable sharing your posts and visiting your website.

Go Omni-Channel for Black Friday

Most brands find that some of their social media channels get them more traction than others.
While you will be tempted to focus your efforts on the channels that are doing well, you shouldn’t ignore the channels that aren’t getting as much engagement.
If you have social media deals or general Black Friday offers, post about them on all the channels that are available to you.
The more people who see your posts, the better. Your content marketing should be widely spread for the best results.
And though it may seem like extra work to resize posts for multiple social platforms, some that aren’t doing well, those platforms could still lead to more website visits and sales.
During a time like Black Friday, limiting your options is simply not a good strategy. Spread your wings far and wide, and you can increase your views and sales.

Capitalize on UGC

Black Friday seems like a bad time to run a user-generated campaign, but there are ways to do this to engage with your audience.
Think about asking your followers to share pictures of their Black Friday hauls—people will be excited to show off what they’ve managed to buy.
Alternately, ask people how much they’ve managed to save by shopping on Black Friday—some deals are truly excellent and people get to save plenty of money, which they would want to share with others.
You should involve your brand in your UGC content marketing, of course. Get users to share images of themselves with your products, at your stores, or using your services.
Not only is UGC a great way to engage with audiences, but it will also encourage people who haven’t participated in your Black Friday sales to join in the fun.

Don’t Stop at Black Friday

Though Black Friday is a major event, it shouldn’t be an end goal in itself.
Your social media followers shouldn’t feel like you were only interested in their patronage because they would participate in your sales. What happens after that?
Share a ‘thank you’ post for customers who joined in your Black Friday sales. Offer a post-Black Friday social media discount for loyal customers.
Open up your sales again for Cyber Monday, if you can.
Black Friday is at the beginning of the holiday season, and you should be using that to your advantage.
Keep your sales and posts going well after Black Friday and you will see your followers grow and engage with you more.

In Conclusion

Black Friday can be a make-or-break event for brands, and you should be making the most of it with your social media campaign.
Plan your social media strategy well before Black Friday and use strong visuals to share your messaging.
Share your Black Friday deals on social media, but also create social media-exclusive deals. Use all your channels to reach potential customers.
You should also hold a UGC campaign to encourage more engagement, and don’t limit your deals to the day of Black Friday. Keep them going into the holiday season.
With these tips, you can create a revamped social media strategy that will help you increase follower numbers and sales on Black Friday.